The story of Joseph, the son of Jacob, is an incredible one, pregnant with lessons. Herein are just a few of the lessons.

Genesis 37:3: Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age, and he made a richly ornamented robe for him.

Lesson One. Love all your children equally. Have no favorites. Had Israel loved his children equally, the hatred that existed towards Joseph by his brothers, to the extent that they wanted to kill him, would not have been there. Joseph would not have been sold as a slave to Egypt. Israel would not have been as distressed as he had been. Joseph would not have been separated from his loving mum, as a teenager, NEVER to see her again.

Genesis 37:5: Joseph had a dream, and when he told his brothers, they hated him all the more.

The dream suggested that al his brothers would bow before him, suggesting that he would rule over them. He had another dream with similar suggestions in verse nine of the same chapter.

Had Joseph known how much his brothers hated him, he might not have told them about the dreams. Three events made Joseph’s brothers hate him to the extent of plotting to kill him. These were:

The multi-colored garment;

The first dream; and

The second dream.

Lesson Two. Owing to naivety, the younger folk may be prone to making wrong judgements. If Joseph hadn’t known that the multi-colored garment had made his brothers jealous, he should have known, from their reaction to his first dream, that the implication of the dream was disturbing to his brothers.

Lesson Three. We should stand firm in righteousness, whatever the consequences that might await us.

As a result of standing firm in righteousness, Joseph enjoyed the following benefits:

In prison, the warden put Joseph in charge of all other prisoners. This implies that he must have exhibited the following qualities:

Diligence;

Dependability;

Reliability;

Responsibility;

Maturity; and

Honesty.

All the above are godly qualities. Most importantly, God’s favor was with him. My suggestion is that this must have been brought about by his decision to be faithful to the Lord. Hence the gift of the interpretation of dreams.

He successfully interpreted the dreams of both the cupbearer and the baker. (Genesis 40:8-23);

After forgetting to speak on behalf of Joseph upon his release, the cupbearer, two years down the line, remembered Joseph’s gift of dream interpretation when Pharaoh had a dream requiring interpretation;

On the same day that Joseph interpreted Pharaoh’s dream, he was taken from prison to the palace as a ruler, only second to Pharaoh. The Lord can turn our lives around in one day.